One of the most famous producers of the rock community and also sound engineer, Bob Rock, was recently interviewed by Gibson’s YouTube channel and talked about his musical journey that has spanned over 40 years.

One of the main topics of the conversation was Mötley Crüe… Bob Rock recalled the story of how did he learn Vince being fired from Mötley Crüe and revealed his reaction when he heard the news.

Here are his statements:

“I was in London, working on a record, and Tom and Nikki phoned me – they said, ‘We got rid of Vince, we got a new singer.’ And I’m, like, ‘What? What did you do? Really?’ So I met John [Corabi], and he’s an exceptional singer.

When we did the Corabi album [1994’s self-titled], I approached it much like ‘Dr. Feelgood,’ and what I learned on [Metallica’s 1991 record] the ‘Black Album,’ just getting it right and getting it tight.

I think with Corabi, they were inspired again, I think that shows in the record. I think the record would’ve done better if Vince sang it, but there’s no question that Corabi inspired the guys to another level, and that’s why I think it shined.

So, they learned something, but it also inspires them when something changes. They became kind-of better. They didn’t have Vince, but the band was inspired because of that change. I didn’t have time for pressure, I just made the best record I could make with what I had.

He continued:

“The bottom line is: you just want to try and get something out of the artist that represents how good they are at that time. So we did all the demos, and we brought them to Tommy, and he loved it.”

An amazing thing happened also, Nikki Sixx, I guess three or four years prior to me seeing him, he had been taking bass lessons. And Nikki was a good bass player, but he started playing and I’m going, like, ‘What the fuck? What happened?’

Because he’s amazing. He’s playing with his fingers; his timing is amazing, I’m going, like, ‘What the fuck?’. So I said, ‘Let’s record the bass.'”